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Boulder County man dies after deputy shoots him in his Longmont-area home

Sheriff's office reports the man displayed a gun to deputies

By Scott Rochat and Pierrette J. Shields Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
12/29/2013 12:00:53 PM MST

Updated:
12/29/2013 11:18:09 PM MST

A 44-year-old man was shot and wounded by a Boulder County sheriff's deputy at a home in the 8300 block of North 95th Street near Longmont on Sunday morning.
(Cliff Grassmick / Daily Camera)

A Boulder County deputy on Sunday shot and killed a 44-year-old man in his home southwest of Longmont after he pulled a gun while two deputies were speaking with him, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.

Cmdr. Heidi Prentup said the man's mother called deputies to the single-family home at 8309 N. 95th St. at about 8:35 a.m. and reported that he had been locked in his room for several days. She told deputies that the man did not have access to weapons, according to the sheriff's office.

Two deputies arrived about 10 minutes later and went to speak with him. According to the sheriff's office, the man pulled a gun during the conversation.

Cmdr. Heidi Prentup said the deputy fired multiple shots in response.

"The deputy shot until the threat was stopped," Prentup said. She said the man was airlifted to Denver Health for surgery and died there at about 1:15 p.m.

The sheriff's office announced the death at about 4 p.m.

The deputy was uninjured; the names of the deputy and the man have not yet been released. Property records show the home is owned by Dixie E.George.

"What we have is that he made vague suicidal threats. We have not got all the information from the deputies that were on scene yet," Prentup said.

A multi-agency team of investigators is investigating the shooting, North 95th Street was closed between Ogallala and Plateau roads until about 3:45 p.m. Investigators remained on the scene, with the area around the house tape off, as of 6:15 p.m.

Prentup said the man's mother and sister-in-law were in the house at the time of the shooting. The deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave per department policy.

In the area of scattered homes and brown farm fields, few neighbors who weren't immediately nearby even knew what had happened, though they did notice the closed roads and detours.

"I just had the (police radio) scanner on and was listening to it, and all of a sudden, I just saw all the cop cars heading up that way," said Ron Zuber, who lives on 95th south of the incident. "The farmer behind me was trying to get some hay bales to his cows and they wouldn't let him through."

Sunday's is the second officer-involved shooting in Boulder County in just over a month.

On Nov. 24, Boulder police Officer Vincent Gallerani shot and killed Michael Habay, 41, in his apartment at 3009 Madison St. after police say Habay ran at officers while wielding two knives.

Last week, Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett cleared Gallerani in the shooting, saying the officer "reasonably believed that his life, and the lives of his fellow officers, were in imminent danger."

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